Fallout: 48
by Mr. Moonshine
Summary: Follows the inhabitants of Vault 48, situated near the ruined city of Flagstaff, AZ. The Earth is in the grip of a cold nuclear winter; the precursor to the nuclear summer as seen in the later Fallout games. The residents of Vault 48 live in relative safety, however there are a few men brave enough to explore the wastes. Stephen and his son, Isaac, are two of these such Rangers.
1. Prologue

_War. War never changes._

_Cold winds howl across the irradiated wastelands of North America. The air is not yet pure enough to breathe, and dangerous irradiated snowstorms sweep through the ruins of civilization. Hideous mutated creatures roam the wastes, eking out an existence for themselves in the new world left by the atomic Armageddon. Humanity hangs on by a loose thread. However, not all is lost._

_The year is 2124. It has been 47 long years since the Great War; the war that nearly extinguished all life on the planet, and plunged the Earth into a freezing nuclear winter. The only known human survivors are residents of the Vaults, large underground nuclear bunkers designed to house the wealthiest of citizens and government officials after an atomic exchange. The Vaults were never given a way to communicate with each other, and they were never told when to open. Most of the current Vault dwellers have never seen a living human not from their Vault. They live in blissful ignorance of the nightmarish conditions outside the gigantic steel doors that keep them safe._

_In the Arizona wasteland, near the city of Flagstaff, Mt. Elden sleeps. In its bowels lies Vault 48. Two generations have passed since the first survivors entered the Vault. Explorers, dubbed 'Rangers', leave the Vault regularly to scavenge the ruins and map the surrounding areas. It is two of these such Rangers that are about to leave the Vault for an expedition into the desolated city of Flagstaff. A man by the name of Stephen, and his son Isaac. _

_It is a cold, unforgiving world. The nuclear winter that has plagued the Earth for the past 5 decades is slowly abating, paving the way for an inevitable nuclear summer. The scars left by the great atomic war will never truly heal. Humanity may be almost extinct, but life continues on. Although it is strict in the Vaults, its residents continue their lives more or less the same as their forefathers did before the atomic fires of 2077.  
_

_Where the Romans fought the Carthaginians, the Rangers of Vault 48 fight the mutations, radiation and snowstorms. The game might have different rules and players, but war; war never changes. _


	2. Chapter 1

Their footsteps echoed in the narrow hallway. The electric lights on the walls shone dimly; energy was not wasted here as this passage was rarely used. When they reached the end of the hallway, Stephen hit the blinking green button atop the metal panel on the wall. The large metal hydraulic door slid upwards smoothly to let them pass.

Isaac had never been in this room before. This was to be his first expedition outside the Vault. Stephen, his father, was one of the few men in the Vault brave enough to explore the outside. Isaac was determined to follow in his father's footsteps, as had Stephen. Stephen's father was now a frail old man, too old to continue exploring the outside. He had been a military officer when the bombs hit. He and his wife had managed to get a place inside one of the famed 'Vaults of the Future', Vault 48, hidden inside a cave in Mt. Elden, not far from the city of Flagstaff. It was in this Vault he had made a new life for himself along with the 999 other residents of Vault 48 in the post-nuclear holocost. It was in this Vault he had a son, Stephen. It was in this Vault Stephen's own son Isaac was about to leave.

'Impressive, isn't it?' remarked Stephen, when they had stepped through the opening in the wall left by the hydraulic door. Isaac was dumbstruck. He had heard stories of the entrance to the Vault by other men who braved the outside world, as well as his father, but hadn't quite realized just how harrowing it was to be standing on the edge of the safety he had known his entire life.

'...Impressive,' Isaac agreed. He began to examine the room. The place was lit up by the same dim lights that had lit the preceding corridor. A straight metal pathway led to the other end. What looked like a large drill was attached to a long metal arm that extended from a hole in the wall. And there, at the end of the metal path, was the grand spectacle. The door. It was gigantic; a grey-black colour. Spherical in shape, and larger than anything Isaac had ever seen. It was easily twenty times larger than him. He suddenly realized what the drill was used for, as there was a hole about the size of the drill-piece near the top of the door.

Stephen noticed him gazing in awe. 'Apparently it weighs thirteen tonnes. It's held in place by its sheer weight. Your grandfather would tell me stories when I was little of men who would try to blow the doors open with explosives in desperation when they knew the war was imminent. It didn't budge, not one bit. Not surprising when you think about it; they were built to withstand 50 fucking megaton nuclear blasts.'

Isaac shook himself. He wanted to remember and savour this moment, not stare stupidly at the door before it had even opened. Civilians weren't allowed to go near the entrance to the Vault, just in case they did something stupid. Nobody really knew what; Vault-Tek had designed these bunkers to only be operable by people with the right security codes. It was probably just a precaution, anyway. Just in case. Only people who had received sanction from the Overseer to leave the Vault for whatever reason were allowed up here. In this Isaac was priviliged. He was one of the youngest, if not the youngest, in Vault 48 history to set foot here, let alone go to the outside. A boy of just 17, Stephen had spared no expense in training him and making sure he was ready for all the dangers the outside world presented when Isaac had expressed interest in becoming a Ranger when he was around 13 years of age.

Stephen's wife and Isaac's mother, Mia, did not entirely approve. However, she had conceded that if becoming a Ranger was what Isaac wanted then become a Ranger he would. 'The apple never falls far from the tree,' she had remarked sadly. Isaac knew she would rather have him become a repairman, or get a job working in the greenhouses. But that just wasn't him.

'Double check your equipment and make sure it's all working as it should,' said Stephen. 'I'll get this door open.' He walked over to the control panel that had yellowed with age and began entering the password. Isaac nodded, and unholstered his gun. He had taken his 9mm pistol apart back in the appartment and cleaned it thoroughly twice the previous day, in anticipation for his journey. He closely scrutinized its exterior one last time. He saw his face in the metal of the barrel. He was proud of the weapon; it was one of the many items Stephen had scavenged over the years from outside and he had seen fit to give it to his son. He checked his gas mask next. Stephen had given him a supply of filters for his first time out. They were tucked away safely in Isaac's backpack, along with his food and water. Stephen's backpack carried much the same.

'I'm ready,' said Isaac.

'Good,' came the response.

Stephen finished keying in the password. 'Gas mask on,' he said in a bored sort of voice. Isaac thought that even if he knew nothing about his father he would still know that Stephen was a veteran Ranger. He did everything in swift movements like he had done it all a hundred times before. Whereas Isaac fumbled with his mask, Stephen had it on in one swift, almost graceful, movement. Isaac felt proud to call Stephen his father.

'Okay, just have to...,' Stephen muttered as he pulled the small lever on the panel down. 'I forgot to mention, this is going to be really fucking loud,' he warned. 'Cover your ears.' They both clamped their hands down on their ears as the dim yellow lights on the walls suddenly turned bright red and flashed in a circular motion. The room was at first lit up red, then dark, then red again. Next came the alarm, a loud, low pitched hum that turned on and off in sync with the emergency lights. _This isn't too bad, _though Isaac. He took his hands off his ears, only to have Stephen cuff him around the back of the head with a scowl on his face. He immediately put his hands back in place.

The large drill started to move. The long mechanical arm it was attached to extended out from the wall. The drill swerved about and faced the direction of the door. The drill started to spin, and it connected itself to the giant metal door.

Nothing could have prepared him for what happened next. Through his hands, Isaac heard a low metallic screeching sound. The door started to move, albeit slowly. The screeching gradually got louder and louder, until in one swift motion the drill pulled back the door with all its might. Isaac felt dizzy; it was as if there was a great beast right in front of them and it was bellowing in fury at the top of its lungs. The screeching was now so loud he was sure this angry beast would swallow him whole. The noise of the emergency alarm, the drill's mechanisms and the otherwordly screeching of the Vault door combined to create a deafening cachophony of sound. The floor beneath his feet started to shake; he lost his footing and fell over. He didn't take his hands off his ears, though. Nothing in the world would have made him do that at this point. He landed in a heap on the floor, where he stayed until the almighty earthquake stopped.

A hand grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him to his feet. 'You okay?' asked Stephen. Isaac was still shaken, but he grunted an affirmative. His head was ringing. Stephen appeared completely unharmed. 'How did that not phase you?' he asked.

'Oh, it did,' said Stephen. 'I suppose I'm just used to it, so it doesn't have as much of an effect on me. I was more or less the same as you my first time.'

It suddenly dawned on Isaac that there was an entire corridor and stairs leading down to the rest of the Vault behind. 'Why couldn't we have gone back and stayed in the corridor? The noise wouldn't have been so bad back there.' He was perplexed. 'Emergency lock,' said Stephen shortly. 'When the door opens, this room is sealed off to the rest of the Vault so nothing nasty will get in. Can't have lethal radiation and toxic air seeping into the Vault, now, can we?'

Deciding it was reasonable, Isaac turned his attention to the Vault door. Only, there was no Vault door. The drill had deposited into a massive slot in the wall, like a coin in a vending machine. Where the door had been, there was now nothing but empty space. It had been removed like a plughole, filling the room they were in with cold, deadly air. Beyond the empty space lay a seemingly infinite blackness; the dark cave that led to the surface. The outside.

'I know I've said this a hundred times to you before, but _be careful_,' said Stephen. 'I don't care how well equipped or trained you are, there will always be something new out there that will take you by surprise.'

'How will I stay prepared? I don't have eyes in the back of my head, you know.'

'That's what I'm here for. You never, ever go out there on your own if you're an inexperienced rookie. Even if you're an old hand at this, I'd advise you to bring someone along. You never know what's hiding behind the nearest burnt out car.' Stephen became quiet for a moment, then said, 'Or in it.'

'In it?'

Stephen studied his son for a time. 'Sometimes the things living out there make their homes in the ruins. Most of the time the small ones are pretty docile, nothing we can't handle and will most likely leave you alone if you leave them alone. But the small ones are not what you should be worrying about.'

'Then what should I be worrying about?'

'The bigger ones.'

'Like what? I don't want to get attacked by some... mutated dinosaur.'

Stephen frowned and stared into the nothingness of the cave ahead of them. 'I've never seen anything like that, to be honest. But then, that's not really what I was talking about.'

'Then what were you talking about?'

He tore his eyes away from the cave and cleared his throat. 'Nothing. Forget I said anything. Put it this way: I've seen a lot of fucked up shit in my time out there. If I get a chance someday, I'll explain it to you. But not now.'

Isaac could see from his father's uncomfortable body language that he regretted getting into this conversation. He decided not to press the matter. Whatever it was, he knew that if it was especially dangerous Stephen would tell him about it. It must have been a personal matter.

'Alright then. Should we go? Our filters are wasting,' he said.

'Yes. Good point,' said Stephen. He fumbled a bit in the waist pocket of his Vault 48 jumpsuit and withdrew a small box-shaped item. The Pip-Boy 2000 blinked to life with a small whirr. He flicked on the built in torch on the back and shined it into the pitch-black cave ahead of them. It wasn't particularly powerful but it illuminated the place enough for them to see.

'Come on, then,' he said, and they began their journey to the surface.


	3. Chapter 2

They walked on for a few minutes in relative silence. The only sound that could be heard was the steady thud-thud of footsteps on the ground of the cave. Stephen had closed the Vault door behind them; he was right, the first time really was the worst. Isaac had managed to stay on his feet, however the demonic screeching of the steel door sliding into place was just as shocking as the first time Isaac heard it.

'Is it always this cold out here?' Isaac asked. Unlike the Vault, there were unfortunately no temperature regulators in the outside world. Under the fabric of his Vault suit, Isaac had goosebumps.

'Afraid so,' said Stephen. 'The war kicked some shit into the atmosphere or something like that, and it's blocking the sun's rays and heat from getting in. Not so much anymore though, it's definitely a lot less cold nowadays than it was 20 years ago. You know Bill? The scientist?'

Isaac nodded.

'He says in another 20 years this "nuclear winter" will be gone, and in 30 years it will have been replaced with a "nuclear summer". I don't know what that will be like or why it will happen. Personally, all I care about is the now.'

'Maybe I'll live to see it,' Isaac grinned.

'Maybe you want a foot up the ass?' Stephen retorted. He wasn't as young as he used to be, mid-forties, and Isaac sometimes found it humorous to point it out. It was all in good fun.

Stephen suddenly pointed into the darkness. 'There! You see it? Light.'

The light from Stephen's Pip-Boy did not reach all the way to the end of the cave, and there was indeed a glimmer of gray light not far from them. Isaac realized it was actual daylight. He shivered, and it was not from the cold.

Isaac was suddenly overcome with a sense of overwhelming revulsion. He didn't belong out there. He belonged back in the Vault, with his family and friends. What kind of a world was it when you couldn't even breathe the air in it without the use of a plexiglass mask? He didn't know, but it was not a world he wanted to be part of. _The Vaults were constructed for a reason_, he thought. _To give humanity shelter from the horrors of post-nuclear war. _

Whenever Stephen told him about how bad it actually was out there, he had listened intently with a morbid fascination. Now that he was on the brink of going outside, leaving the Vault and everything he had ever known, all the stories came rushing back and filled his head with horrible thoughts. The destruction, the desolation, the mutants. Even the atmosphere wanted to kill him.

He stopped dead in his tracks.

'What's wrong? Aren't you coming?' asked Stephen, stopping too.

'I... I don't know.'

Stephen looked at him intently. 'Why not?' he asked slowly.

'I'm not sure I want to.'

'I'm not in the mood for screwing around. We have to be back by nightfall and we spent enough time chatting back there. Let's go.'

'Have you ever thought that we don't belong out there? That we should stay in the Vault? It's safe back there. I was just thinking of everything I'd heard about the outside over the years and it never really... _hit me... _until now.'

'Pretty much everytime I open that door and feel the cold blast of air through my jumpsuit. Yeah, everything out there would like me sitting comfortably in its belly, but I don't think about that. It's my job; it's what I do.'

'But why do you go out? Doesn't it scare you? Why not get a normal job in the Vault like a normal person? I can't believe I'm even having doubts. I was so hyped to finally go outside with you, but now that we're actually here... Damn.'

Stephen considered him. 'I'm not going to lie; the outside does scare me. But I don't let the fear get to me. The dangers, the risks; that's why I go on. Life in the Vault is the same old shit everyday. You wake up, go to work, come home, you know. In contrast to life out there, well, two expeditions are never the same. I think I'd rather be permanently exiled to the wasteland than become a bartender at Sloppy Seconds.'

Isaac could see what he was getting at, but he still wasn't entirely convinced. 'Weren't you scared the first time you went out? Leaving all your family and friends behind, knowing there's a chance you may never see them again?

Stephen looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, 'When I was a lad, people were still getting used to living in the Vault. All the adults at the time were survivors of the war, the "first generation" if you will, of Vault 48. The atmosphere in the Vault was never overly cheery. My generation, having known nothing of the old world, was a lot less "sad". Didn't mope as much, I guess you could say. That and I found Vault life very dull. Exploring the outside was a way to escape the monotony and boredom.'

He folded his arms, and continued.

'I guess what I'm trying to say is that you grew up in a different place than I did. Figuratively, of course. It was easier for me to leave for the first time because the general atmosphere in the Vault back then was still pretty desolate. That said, I did have my doubts the first time. Do I regret doing it? Obviously not, or I wouldn't be here now. Sometimes you just gotta take a leap of faith in life. I realize that's not often in Vault life, but this is one of those times. If you don't come out now you'll regret it. My father taught me the ropes when I was old enough, and now I'm passing them on to you. Think of it like the family business. However, it is your decision. I'll tell you what: just come with me to the exit of the cave and stand outside. Take a look around. Taste the premium-quality toxic air, freshly filtered. If you still don't want to continue after that, then I have no choice but to let you go back.'

Isaac wasn't sure.

'I have come all this way,' he reasoned. 'I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take a look out. I just feel like all the good in life is behind me, and the bad stuff is in front of me; out there.'

'That's pretty accurate. But like I said, that's why I go out. The thrill, the adventure,' said Stephen.

There was silence for a few moments.

'Thanks, Dad,' said Isaac eventually.

'Ah, no need. Maybe one day you can pep-talk my grandkids. I'm sure you'll be great at it.'

Isaac frowned. 'Grandkids?'

'Just fucking with you,' laughed Stephen. He punched his son on the arm and urged him on. Isaac took a deep breath, and resumed walking.

* * *

They were close to the mouth of the cave now. It wasn't very big; it was hidden well so "explorers" wouldn't come "exploring". The glimmer of light that had shone in the distance a few minutes ago was now much larger. There was a _click_, as Stephen turned off his Pip-Boy light. He didn't need it anymore.

'I'll go out first, wait here for a minute,' whispered Stephen, drawing his revolver. It was a grand weapon; it had been given to him by his father when he had decided he was too old to continue roaming the wastes. The word '_Anchorage_' was inlaid on it in faded gold lettering. It was one of his most prized possessions.

Isaac drew his scuffed, but shiny, 9mm. The weapon paled in comparison to his father's revolver. Holding it in two hands like he had been taught, he crept to the wall of the cave, ready to put a bullet in anything dangerous that wandered in, while Stephen slipped out of the entrance with his revolver held high.

Isaac tried not to look outside. He didn't want to catch a glimpse too early and get shaky legs again. He cursed his cowardice. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. He had imagined himself striding out into the wasteland with his head held high, not cowering near the wall, afraid of the damned daylight. Of course, like many things, the fantasy was nothing like the reality.

'It's me, don't shoot,' said Stephen, as he walked back into the cave. 'It's all clear. Are you ready?'

'It's now or never.'

Stephen nodded. 'Okay.'

He lead the way. Isaac followed close behind. _This is it_, he thought. _Fuck! _He closed his eyes, and felt along the cave wall to get along. His insides were squirming. The whistling of wind through the cave did not help. He was determined not to open his eyes until he was actually outside.

Suddenly, his hands had no more wall to grab. He kept walking forward blindly, and accidentally bumped into Stephen. In a knee-jerk reaction, he opened his eyes.

'Watch where you're going!' he said.

Isaac paid no attention. He was transfixed. The first thing he noticed was the sky; a dull gray that let in little light. _It's so high up... _he thought. There was no ceiling here, none whatsoever. The only semblance of one was the thick blanket of clouds that led on as far as the eye could see. He stared in complete and utter awe. All his life he had lived with something over his head. To actually see for himself that the outside really did have no ceiling completely amazed him. He felt tiny, a mere insect compared to the size of this strange new world.

He forced himself to tear his eyes away. What he saw next startled him almost as much. The cave had emerged onto a cliff, and he had a grand view of the whole area. Land, for miles and miles and miles. He realized, with a shock, that he could go anywhere in this world. There were no physical restrictions, bar the dangers of the wastes. There were no walls. There were, however, thousands of grotesque, shrivelled up black monsters that covered the whole area. The remains of trees, he knew. He had seen pictures of trees in his school textbooks. It disturbed him to see them in such a state.

And there in the distance, he knew, was the city of Flagstaff itself. Thousands upon thousands of houses lay in neat rows. Though they were far away and he could not get a proper look, he could tell that most of them were without roofs, and many of them were blackened from fires that had burnt out many years ago. The actual space that the city occupied was astounding; he thought that if this city was returned to its pre-war status it could easily house the population of his Vault a hundred times over.

The whole thing combined was the most mind-blowing thing Isaac had ever experienced. The dapple gray sky and the land that stretched almost infinitely to the horizon, the dead city of Flagstaff that covered more area than he had even believed existed, the thousands of dead trees that were a relic of an ecosystem long since destroyed. He now knew what Stephen had meant. How could he go back to the Vault after this? He was changed. He wasn't afraid of this place anymore. He wanted to explore it, to uncover the secrets of a civilization he was descended from but no longer existed. He realized his mouth was gaping, and he closed it.

'Are you done yet?' came a voice. It was Stephen. 'I left you to your epiphany, and thought that since you realized how stupid you looked with your mouth open like that that you'd come out of it.'

'What the fuck,' was all Isaac had to say.

'You've been staring at the scenery slack-jawed for the past few minutes now.'

Isaac shook his head and managed to say, 'This is incredible!'

'Want to go back now?'

'What? No!'

Stephen smiled knowingly. 'I thought not. It really is mind-boggling, seeing all this for the first time. I can only wonder at what it looked like before the war. So uh, are you coming or do you want to stay and ogle some more?'

Isaac took one last look at the view. A thick film of frost covered everything. The air in the cave was cold, but the air out here was nothing short of freezing. His nose was starting to go numb.

'No, I think we should keep moving. I've done enough sightseeing. And this cold is really getting to me; I'm not used to temperatures like this.'

'Alright. The trail down is just over here,' said Stephen. He jumped down from the rock he had been sitting on during Isaac's "epiphany", and took something from his backpack.

'Here,' he said, throwing Isaac his 9mm, 'You dropped this. Also, you might want to take the safety off next time, it's generally more effective that way.'

Isaac caught and holstered the weapon with a grunt.


	4. Chapter 3

The wind whistled through the gnarled, blackened corpses of the trees. It was oddly peaceful here; there were no monotonous hums of air filters or radiators like there were in the Vault. Despite the mass destruction and decay, there was a certain beauty to it all.

Isaac stumbled over a rock. The path down from the cave was littered with them. He could see the remains of the city ahead of him, through the trees. Another few minutes and he would be walking through one of the many mass graveyards left by the war.

The thought that thousands of people had lived here not five decades ago, and that their entire worlds were snuffed out in an instant chilled his bones. He imagined their ghosts aimlessly wandering the streets, doomed to never know for what cause they had died. The thought was unpleasant, so he pushed it out of his mind. It was a city of skeletons, life having been ripped from it long ago. Nothing more.

Before long they had reached the outskirts. Isaac noticed how much Stephen's demeanor had changed as they neared the city. He had gone from a pleasant, light-hearted man to one that was tense and alert; a frown was fixed on his face and he looked ready to draw his revolver at any second.

Isaac followed his lead, in more ways than one. Stephen went first and had warned him to keep an eye out behind them. Isaac had tensed up too; although he hadn't yet seen any of the fabled monsters of the wastes, the stories he had heard of them and general feeling he got from this cursed land was enough.

They came to a road. On the other side were houses; black, torn apart wrecks.

'It's a lot worse near the centre of the city,' said Stephen as they crossed. 'It's a flat wasteland. The hypocenter, they call it. Where the most force from the nuke was applied. It completely flattened everything under it; what we're seeing here is the damage done where the nuke was _least _effective. I've only been near the hypocenter once. My Pip-Boy started ticking like crazy. It's very irradiated and it will kill you in a matter of minutes if you hang around too long.'

'I'll keep it in mind. I don't think I'll be going that far into the city any time soon, though,' said Isaac.

When they reached the house, Stephen shook his head and continued past it. 'Been in there before. It's been looted clean.'

As they were walking around it, Isaac asked, 'What exactly are we looking for?'

'Mostly intact buildings. The ones that were blown apart aren't going to have much stuff in them.'

Isaac nodded.

Some time later they came out onto a cul de sac. He had seen pictures of these places in school. When he was younger, he had been determined to live in one when he grew up. He had stopped entertaining the notion when he was old enough to realize that world no longer existed.

Isaac tried to imagine what it must have been like before the war. Young children playing in the sun, adults getting into their cars to go to work, the bus arriving to take the older kids to school. Now all that remained were the twisted, melted distortions of cars and dirty toys lying in the dirt. There were no school buses to be seen, either.

'Check these cars. They might have something useful in them,' said Stephen.

They split up. Stephen went over to one side of the cul de sac, and Isaac went to the other. There were several cars here, littered about. One was lying upside down, mangled beyond recognition. As Isaac made his way towards it, it suddenly struck him that he was on his own for the first time since leaving the Vault. Stephen may have been just 20 metres from him, but he was busy and not even looking in his general direction. Isaac knew that an hour ago, he would have gotten jelly legs from the very idea. Now however, it gave him a sense of empowerment. It made him feel like he was truly independent.

He drew his pistol and crouched down. He took a peek through the glassless window of the car, and what he saw shocked him.

Lying spreadeagled on the upside down roof of the car was a skeleton. Frost glistened on its gray bones. One leg was buried up to the thigh in the remains of the dashboard, which had presumably caved in after the car had been flipped. The other leg was missing at the knee, which itself had small bite marks on it. The skeleton was still wearing the clothes it had died in; a faded blue shirt, jeans, and a gold chain around its neck.

Isaac holstered his 9mm and shook himself. If he was going to last much longer out here, he was going to have to get used to seeing this kind of stuff. _It's just because it's the first one I've seen, _he thought. He hoped he was right.

He reached into the car and took the gold chain necklace off the skeleton. 'Sorry,' he muttered, as he extracted himself from the ruin.

He jogged over to Stephen to show off his prize. He didn't say anything; just took it from Isaac and examined it carefully. Before Isaac could stop him he flung it away. When it hit the ground it broke apart into dozens of little pieces that bounced around before becoming still.

Isaac looked at his father angrily. 'Why?'

'Fake,' said Stephen shortly.

'Even so, I would have liked to keep it.'

'It would have broken sooner rather than later. Look at how it exploded when I threw it. I'd guess the only reason it was still there is because some other schmuck already looked at it and decided it was worthless.'

Isaac stared into the distance. He felt put down.

'Don't worry about it,' said Stephen. 'You'll learn.'

They continued looting the rest of the cars for anything of value. They didn't find much, just an old rusty watch that had stopped working decades ago and some scrap electronics.

'There,' said Isaac. He pointed a little bit further down the street, at an old house with its front door missing.

Stephen nodded approvingly. 'Good work.'

They slowly made their way towards it, constantly checking for signs of danger. Isaac was surprised they hadn't seen anything yet. He didn't voice his surprise however to avoid cursing their good luck.

When they there, they both crept up to the space where the door should have been. It was a small place, a bungalow. Only four or five rooms, Isaac guessed. Like every house they had passed, the windows had been blown out and a thick layer of grime and frost covered it. Unlike every house they had passed, most of it was still standing.

'On my mark, we go in,' said Stephen quietly, drawing his revolver. 'Check every room. If you see something moving, shoot it, no questions asked. Got it?'

'Yes,' said Isaac. He drew his own gun yet again.

'One... two... three!'

They rushed into the front hall side by side. Stephen checked the kitchen on the left. 'Clear!' he said, over his shoulder. Isaac ran to the right, and kicked the door there open. He went inside with his gun raised. As far as he could see, there was nothing moving. 'Clear!' he said, mimmicking his father. He had stumbled upon the living room, it seemed. A dirty couch lay in one corner, a bookshelf in the other. A small busted television lay on a small coffee table.

He pulled himself away; he didn't have time to look around. He ran back into the hall as Stephen was kicking open the door to a bedroom. Isaac ran across the hall to the other bedroom preparing to kick with all his might, but he didn't have to. The door was already open there. 'Clear!' he heard from Stephen.

Isaac stuck his gun into the room, followed by his head. The curtains were pulled despite the windows being shattered. A single skeleton lay on the double bed. _Probably died of radiation poisoning_, thought Isaac. That or starvation. This time he felt nothing. The skeleton was just a skeleton; dead. There was no point in feeling sorry for it.

He turned around to say that the room was empty, but as soon as he opened his mouth to speak he heard a deafening gunshot and a bright flash of light from the bedroom Stephen was in. Isaac's blood went cold, colder even than when he stepped out of the cave for the first time.

'Dad!' he shouted, charging across the hall and preparing to tackle whatever the danger was.

He burst in to find Stephen on the floor with his gun raised in the air. Smoke was trailing from the barrel, and steam rose from whatever it was he had shot. A pink lump was oozing blood near the bed.

'What happened?' he asked.

'Molerat. Bugger was hiding under the bed. Jumped me when I bent down to check under it. Most of the time they'll leave you alone, but if you invade their privacy, well, you better start running or start shooting.'

'Are you okay?'

'Yeah, I'm fine. It's not the first time something like this has happened. At least we'll have some meat to bring back to the Vault.' He stood up and and pulled his combat knife from his belt.

He motioned for Isaac to approach him. 'I'll show you how to gut these things. You can make quite a tasty stew or a good bit of money from the meat.'

Isaac obediently knelt beside the carcass. It was basically a giant, hairless mole. The size of its teeth was something to be admired. Stephen's bullet had hit it right in the neck, below its ear. The blood had stopped spurting out, and the room was covered in it. It looked like a scene from one of those horror movies they had back at the Vault.

'Think of it like money or food, in dead mutated animal form,' said Stephen, when he noticed the look on Isaac's face. He knelt down beside Isaac and they got to work. Over the course of the next few minutes he showed his son which bits to avoid and which bits to bag. He took special care with the teeth, which he said were valuable. Together they split the meat between Isaac's backpack and his own.

'You gut like a pro,' said Stephen when they were finished. 'Good work. Now, we had best be going before any of its brothers or sisters show up. I'm not going to risk anymore time here than we have to. Quickly take a look at the rooms for anything valuable, then we're out of here.'

Isaac was flushed with pride. _I may become a Ranger yet_, he thought.

They got up and walked out into the hall. Stephen headed into the bedroom and Isaac walked up to go to the kitchen. When he was about to go in, he took a quick glance out the front door frame. What he saw made his heart stop in his chest.

Two decapitated men were kneeling on the front doorstep. There were two hooks in each of their shoulders that led over the door frame, anchoring them in place. There wasn't much blood, these men had been dead for a while. Their hands were tied behind their backs, like prisoners. The only clothing they wore were pairs of baggy green trousers.

As if the sight of the two dead men neatly propped up, waiting for him on the doorstep, wasn't bad enough, what Isaac noticed next made his bowels weak. On each of the men's chests were carved the letters "48". The cuts were ragged and unprofessional, clearly done with a very blunt knife. Small trickels of blood ran down their bellies from the wounds.

Isaac didn't know what to do. At first he inched forwards toward them, but then he bolted back into the house. He barreled into Stephen, breathless.

'What the fuck are you doing?' he hissed.

'Ou... out the... on the...' stuttered Isaac. He pointed towards the hall.

With a frown on his face, Stephen walked out. At first his frown turned into a look of surprise, then emergency. He turned back to his son.

'We have to leave,' he said. 'Right fucking now.'


	5. Chapter 4

The irritated expression on Stephen's face had turned into a mix of horror and fear when he realised what Isaac was blathering about. It made him feel even worse; Stephen had been completely sure of himself up until now. He knew exactly what he was doing. It was obvious the grisly sight had the same effect on him as it did on Isaac. If Stephen didn't know what to do, what chance did he have?

He tried to keep a cool head, but when he opened his mouth to speak, nothing came out.

'Now, you're going to keep nice and calm if you want to keep your head,' came a gruff voice from the window behind them.

Isaac wheeled around. Standing on the other side of the window was a man wearing a black gas mask. Unlike the Vault's gas masks where a plexiglass screen covered the face and a long cumbersome filter hose was attached to the belt, this man's mask concealed the face apart from 2 holes for the eyes and the filter was directly attached to the mouthpiece. From what Isaac could see, not much of his body was exposed as it was covered in various furs and leathers. Isaac wasn't particularly concerned with his clothing however; it was the large barrel of the shotgun he was staring down that had caught his attention.

The man kept the gun trained on him as he climbed through the window. Isaac looked back at Stephen. He had his hands raised in the air and he too had a shotgun pointed at his face by a similarly clothed man.

'Isaac, just do whatever he tells you,' said Stephen. Then, to their captors, he said, 'We don't want any trouble. We'll give you whatever you want, just don't hurt us.'

The man with his gun in Stephen's face patiently waited for him to finish, then jerked the gun forward and hit him forcefully in the head. Stephen cried out and recoiled in pain. 'We tell you when to speak. If we don't give permission, then you shut the fuck up,' the man said.

Stephen rose slowly. A line of blood ran from his hair down the edge of his gas mask. He took a deep breath, and Isaac thought he was about to tackle his captor. He remained silent, however.

The man that had come through the window now had his shotgun aimed at the small of Isaac's back. 'Out,' he said, taking Isaac's pistol from its holster. 'If you try anything, you only need to look at the front door to know what'll happen.'

He forced Isaac out into the hall beside Stephen. He didn't look at his son, just stared straight ahead and said nothing. He looked as if he had been shot.

They made their way outside, edging their way around the corpses that were still chained to the roof. There were three more men waiting for them on the road outside the house, all dressed in the same furs and leathers and the same style gas masks. The one in the middle carried an automatic rifle, and his gas mask had a streak of red down the side. Isaac had the sneaking suspicion that it was blood. This man was clearly their leader; the way he carried himself suggested he was used to being obeyed.

'Put 'em down here,' he said.

Isaac now found himself being forced to the ground. He felt the icy touch of the shotgun barrel on the back of his neck. Stephen knelt beside him. He was still staring straight ahead, not looking at anything in particular, but still seeing something.

'Now,' said the man with the blood streaked gas mask. 'My name's... well, I ain't gonna tell you what my name is.' He chuckled. 'But, I guess, you can call me Red.'

Red gestured behind them, towards the grisly scene on the doorstep. Isaac dared to sneak a look, and to his disgust found the number "48" carved on their backs in the same ragged cuts that were on their chests. The gun barrel nudged his head forward again. Stephen still didn't move. His eyes now stared at Red, boring an invisible hole into his gas mask.

'Our friends here,' continued Red, 'Were from your Vault, too. When we cornered them like we did you, they fought back. They tried to escape. As ya'll can see, they didn't make it. When we was about to leave 'em to the carrion birds, I had this great idea. I thought they'd make a nice peace offerin' for the next sorry Vault sissies that we captured. To show that we don't want a fight,' his tone darkened, 'and what happens if you give us one.'

He slung his rifle around his shoulder and folded his arms.

'I don't wanna be dilly-dallyin' around here too long in this shithole of a city, so I'm gonna ask you guys one thing and one thing only. And I want it answered. I'm sure you know what it is already, anyway. So: _where, is, your Vault?_'

At this Stephen faultered, but only for a moment. He jerked his head towards Isaac, then resumed staring at their captors.

There was silence. Neither Isaac or Stephen were willing to give up the Vault's location any time soon. Isaac didn't know if he was ready to die for it though, unless there were some Rangers nearby they were screwed. He decided he would hold out for as long as he could. He could take a beating.

This appeared to be for naught however, as after 20 seconds of silence Red got impatient. He grabbed Isaac by the shoulder and pulled him to his feet. There was a flash of dark gray as Red pulled a pistol from his belt and rested the tip of the barrel on Isaac's temple.

'Like I said, I don't wanna be here for much longer. I want to get the location of your Vault, head over there to see you're not bullshittin' us, then go home. That's all I gotta do today. Course, we'll have to take you with us so as you won't go blabbin'. Now, will my gun have to continue the interrogation or will you just answer the fucking question?'

Isaac was afraid. The pure hatred in Stephen's eyes could have lit Red on fire, was it not so cold. Finally, he spoke. It was not what Isaac had expected, or wanted.

'Fine. I'll lead you to the goddamned Vault. Just don't hurt my boy.'

Isaac felt as if the air had been knocked out of him. What was he doing? Did he really intend to risk the lives of almost 1000 people just to save his own son?

'Good,' said Red, seemingly satisfied.

He took the gun away from Isaac and pointed it at Stephen instead. Stephen stared him down, and merely blinked when he pulled the trigger. There was a _click_, and nothing happened. Isaac realized with a shock that the gun wasn't even loaded.

'Shits and giggles,' chuckled Red, holstering the gun. 'I can assure you however that my own boys' guns here are very much loaded.'

He motioned for his men to let Stephen stand up. He pushed Isaac away from him, who then fell in beside Stephen. Stephen still refused to look at him.

'Come on, then,' said Red. 'Show us the way.'

Without another word, Stephen started walking. Isaac was confused; this wasn't the way they had come at all. Stephen was leading them in the _opposite direction_ from the Vault. He suddenly realized that Stephen had no intention of revealing the Vault's location. Isaac was burning to know what he was planning, but he kept his mouth shut. Besides, if he said anything he would most likely earn the same wound that Stephen was sporting on his head.

Isaac couldn't help but wonder if he would ever see his mother or his friends again. Perhaps he had been right earlier. Perhaps the wastes were not for him at all. In any case, this would be a day he wouldn't forget for as long as he lived, however long that might be.

With shotguns to their backs and hostile men surrounding them, they began their journey even deeper into the city of Flagstaff.

They were walking in silence for about 20 minutes when Stephen stopped over a manhole in the middle of the street.

'The Vault's down here,' he said.

'The sewers?' asked Red with disgust. 'Ain't that the place people threw their shit before the war?'

'Why else would it be down there?' said Stephen sourly. 'It keeps people away.'

'I see... well, you just go on down then.'

Isaac kept his peace. He didn't want to ruin whatever it was Stephen was going to do by saying or asking something stupid. He just hoped it wasn't running away in the dark and hoping the bullets missed them.

Stephen stooped down to remove the heavy manhole cover. They were blasted with a strong smell of sewerage as a result. Isaac could see everyone crinkling their noses under their gas masks.

'I'll go first. Isaac, you come in after me.'

'I don't think so,' said Red. 'You're not getting away that easily.' He produced a flashlight from somewhere in the many rolls of fur he was wearing and flicked it on. He handed it to one of his guards and said, 'You go in first and keep an eye on them. We'll go in after.'

'Sir.'

The guard watched them closely as they descended the ladder, scrutinizing their every movement. Whatever chance they had had to escape was gone. Isaac couldn't see how Stephen planned on getting out of this, bar sprinting for his life.

When Red had finally slid down, he motioned with the flashlight for Stephen and Isaac to go in front this time. The prodding from the shotgun barrel reminded Isaac not to try anything. If he actually did somehow managed to get away from them, he could use his Pip-Boy light to light his way through the tunnels and come up somewhere safe. It was unlikely, though.

Aside from where the flashlight was shining, it was pitch black here. A single tunnel lay in front of them, which then emerged into a larger part of the sewers. Isaac still had no clue where Stephen was going with this.

A sharp jab in the back told them to move forward. They inched along slowly in the darkness. After only a few steps, Stephen stumbled and fell.

'Get the fuck up, you clumsy sack of shit,' said Red. 'This is the kind of bullshit I class as 'funny business', and I do-'

He paused and turned around. Everyone had heard it, a _ching _from near the ladder they had just descended. Isaac turned to look too, but something powerful hit him in the legs and knocked him off his feet. He cried out and hit the ground, hard.

'Cover your ears!' said Stephen. Isaac was confused and rubbing his ribs, but he did as commanded.

He saw it before he heard it. Even though they were in the complete dark for only a few minutes, the bright light that lit up the tunnel stung his eyes and forced them shut. The sound came next, an incredibly loud _BANG. _It shocked Isaac to the core. After that he couldn't hear anything, just a loud whining sound that seemed to be inside his head. The very ground shook as if there was a second Great War going on above their heads. He didn't know what was going on; through his gas mask he could see a great cloud of dust hanging in the air and could just about make out Stephen's outline beside him.

It was only a few seconds before his hearing returned to him, but it felt like several minutes. He got up and looked around. Stephen was lying with his back to the wall. He appeared to be alright. Isaac turned back further to check on their captors, but they weren't there. The entire roof of the tunnel had caved in on top of them, creating a ramp up to the surface and ending where the manhole had been.

Gray daylight shone in on them. Isaac heaved himself over to the wall and sat back. As far as he could tell, he was uninjured.

'What happened?' he managed to say after a few seconds of revelling in their success. Whatever Stephen had done, he had done it well.

'Grenade,' a gravelly voice said from further inside the tunnel.

Isaac couldn't believe it. First they ran into Red and his band of merry men, now a second group?

Stephen raised his head at the sound of the voice.

'Before you decide to put a bullet in me, I would just like to say I'm really, _very _sorry.'

'A bullet?' said the voice. 'You should be lucky I don't feed you another one of those grenades.'

A figure emerged from the darkness of the tunnel. Isaac squinted and he tried to get a good look. What he saw made him try to scramble up the rubble, into the street. He didn't get very far.

'Calm down, Isaac,' said Stephen. 'This is Mark. He's a friend. Sort of.'


	6. Chapter 5

Wet, stringy flesh hung from his body in gray, green, sometimes even purple, strips. Yellow pus oozed from his decaying skin. There was no body hair, not even on his head. Just more of the same rotting skin that covered the rest of his body. He wore the same pre-war style clothes that the skeleton Isaac had discovered earlier in the upturned car wore. They looked like they had been stitched back together many times, and patches dotted them all over. In his hands he held a black revolver. He wasn't wearing a gas mask.

Despite Stephen's reassurance, Isaac wanted to get as far away from this hideous creature as he could. Somehow, even through his gas mask, he smelled the disgusting aroma of rotting meat.

'What are you?' asked Isaac, preparing to try and make another escapade up the rubble behind him if the thing got any closer.

'We call ourselves Ghouls,' said the thing. 'And I'd appreciate it if you referred to us as "who", not "what". We have names, and like your friend said, mine's Mark.'

'He's actually my son,' said Stephen.

'Really? You think this Godforsaken hell-on-earth is a good place to bring family for a holiday? Especially down here?'

'Like they say, it's a free country.'

'What country are you talking about? All I see is what's left of one that failed.'

'Vault, then.'

Isaac still wasn't sure about this monstrosity. Stephen and Mark knew each other well enough, and he could hold a conversation in fluent English. Isaac relaxed, but only a little.

'Can I ask... I mean... how did you...' Isaac stammered. He knew what he wanted to ask, but he didn't know how to say it without implying offense.

'How did I become a walking maggot farm, you mean?' said Mark. He had hit the nail on the head. 'I don't much feel like explaining to you, but I'll bring you up to speed. It's obvious you've never even heard of somebody like me. See, immediately after the bombs fell here there were 3 types of people. Those that escaped into the Vaults, those that took advantage of the chaos and looted, raped and murdered as they pleased, and sorry sods like me who hid under the city, in the sewers. You know what happened to the Vault asswipes, and the looters ran off into the country when the air started getting hard to breathe. Haven't seen or heard from them since. Anyway, the honest, good folk such as myself who took refuge in the sewers and waited for help that never came, started to change over time. I think it was mostly the radiation that made us like this. Long story short, our skin peeled off and this is what became of us. We've adapted to the air here, too. We can breathe it normally without coughing up blood. Not that there's any blood to cough up, that is.'

'So you're just... normal people? Radiation did that to you?'

'I hope you're being sarcastic. But yes, I suppose. To both questions.'

'How old are you?' Isaac asked, confused. 'The war was nearly 50 years ago.'

Mark mouth stretched into a hideous smile. Somehow, he still had most of his teeth. 'Has it been that long? I don't even know what year it is. I do know, however, that I was born in 2043. Take of that what you will. Now no more questions. If you don't have a good reason for blowing a hole in our town then you had best start running.'

It was a lot to take in. In a way, Isaac pitied this jaded, old... man. But his appearance was still shocking. _I'd rather be dead than live like that, _he thought.

He registered the last thing Mark had said. 'Wait, town?'

'What the fuck did I just say?' said Mark, irritated. 'You waltz in here, cave in one of our back doors and you don't even know what this place is? On second thought, that's a good thing.'

He considered Stephen for a moment. 'Thank you, for not telling anybody.'

He turned back to Isaac. 'This here is Deadtown. I'm the Head Guard, you could say. We Ghouls live here in relative peace. I made Stephen swear some time ago to not tell anyone in your Vault about it. It's good to see you didn't betray us. You're disturbing our peace, by the way. Can we get back to the situation at hand, please? Why you're here and all that?'

Together, Stephen and Isaac explained what had happened. The decapitated "peace offerings", their capture at the hands of Red, and Stephen's deception.

'I led them here,' Stephen was saying. 'I couldn't think of any other way to escape. It could have killed us too, you know. I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't thought we were completely fucked.'

'Destroyed tunnel aside,' Mark said, 'You know what this means? There are other survivors out there. Humans. Possibly related to those looters I mentioned earlier.'

'Yes, I know. It doesn't really shock me all that much to be honest, it would be foolish to think we're the only ones who survived the war. I was thinking they were from a Vault, but then they weren't wearing Vault suits. Fur and leather must be in style wherever they come from. Which brings up the question: where the fuck did they come from?'

'From your description of them it sounds like they had military equipment. Shotguns? Christ.'

'We'll get a closer look in a minute. When they went under that rubble, they took our backpacks and guns with them. Bastards.'

Isaac had stayed quiet. There was a lot of information to digest. In one day he had found that an entire town of zombie people lived under the city and that there were other humans out there somewhere not from their Vault. Unlike Stephen, the thought had never even crossed his mind. To him, there was the Vault, and nothing else. It was his world. Everyone he had ever known lived in the Vault; most of them had been born there and most of them would die there.

'Can you tell me how you two know each other?' he decided to ask.

Stephen shifted to a more comfortable position in his spot by the wall, and said, 'I discovered this place a few years back. I was scavenging around, as I do, and felt like exploring the sewers. I discovered their traps and, if I say so myself, cleverly made my way past them with the use of my Pip-Boy light. Of course, I was eventually captured. They held me for a while and asked me a lot of questions. Mark here was the only one who tried to actually talk to me, instead of shouting and using their appearance to intimidate me. He was also the one who pushed for my release when he was satisfied with my answers.

They let me go in the end, all thanks to Mark. I still come back to trade sometimes, though the reception isn't great. I realize I still haven't explained to you _exactly _what happened here, and you're probably wondering. So, this place, it's like a fortress. They stepped up security after I got through. Most of the entrances to the sewers, to Deadtown, in this area are blocked off, but the few that are open are rigged with traps. As you can see, they're very effective. I triggered the tripwire here and set off a grenade bushel hanging from the ceiling. If an intruder somehow survived that, he'd have to face even more traps further on. I've been through here a dozen times, so I know my way around.'

'You could have killed us!'

'Would you rather be dead from that explosion? Or executed by those assholes after we'd given them what they wanted?'

Isaac didn't reply.

'This is all very touching, but I still have to deal with this pile of rubble you created,' said Mark. 'You're lucky it was me on patrol here; when we heard the explosion I said I'd check it out. I've been gone a while and they're probably wondering where I am.' As an afterthought, he added, 'I didn't realize those grenades could do so much damage. Our traps have never been set off before. Maybe I'll stick with the shotgun cartridges instead... '

Stephen stood up. 'What are you going to do with us?' he asked.

Mark grimaced. 'I don't know. You've created a lot of fuckin' work here. We'll have to block this whole passage up. It won't be like sealing a manhole entrance, and this giant crater in the middle of the street will be sure to attract attention if any of your Vault _Rangers_ come near this part of town.' He spat the word out, like it was poison. 'Them or grieving relatives of the recently deceased.' He motioned towards the rubble.

'The town will want your fucking heads on a spike if they find out it was you that did this. Most of the folks here aren't too friendly towards you in the first place, Stephen. It's not just your asses on the line here, either. If they find that the guy I saved, the guy I vouched for, blew a hole in the town... I don't know what will happen. Doubt they'd kill me, but I could be exiled. I'll just tell my guards a mutant crawled in through the manhole and set off the trap or something.'

'Once again,' said Stephen, 'You've saved my life.'

'I'm not doing it willingly this time.'

'Still, it's the thought that counts, right?'

'Yes, whatever,' said Mark, irritably. 'I need the two of you to dig through this rubble as fast as you can and haul those bodies up to the street. Dump them in a ruined house or something, I don't care. Just do it quickly. I'll go back into town and stall. If the coast is clear, I'll come out and help you. It won't be, though; that kind of explosion probably rocked the foundations of this entire sewer network.' He disappeared into the darkness.

Stephen gave Isaac a hand up. 'Let's get to work.'

* * *

They dug through the bits of masonry and broken rock as fast as they could. The body of the guard who had hit Stephen in the head was found first, his head and gas mask a bloody confused pulp. They identified him by the blood on the end of his shotgun barrel. Stephen took no joy in hefting his body to the surface. The victory was hollow.

Isaac dug around until he found Red. To him, the sight was even worse than the first man they had found with the crushed head. Red's mask had cracked at the mouth, and a mixture of gray foam and blood leaked from it. It appeared that he had somehow survived the grenade's destruction, but the lethal air had killed him, and slowly. His face was contorted in pain; the air he had inhaled to scream had ripped through his lungs like acid. Isaac felt no pity for him. He deserved to die.

They eventually found their backpacks. Everything seemed to be okay: the backpacks and bodies had cushioned their contents when the tunnel collapsed. They both felt better with their guns back in their hands. Trickles of blood leaked from the front pockets of the backpacks where the Molerat meat lay. Isaac wished he didn't have to soil his pack, but he knew that plastic bags had gone out of production many years ago.

About 20 minutes had gone by when Mark returned.

'Nearly finished? Good. I told them it was a mutant, and that the damage to the tunnel was severe. I sent them to get material to block it up, so we should be good for another few minutes.'

He suddenly eyed the trail of blood leading up into the street.

'What the fuck is this? How am I supposed to explain that?'

'Relax,' Stephen tried to calm him. 'We've got Molerat meat here. I'll spread it around, so it looks like there were a few of them and they tried to get away or something. It'll be fine.'

'I'm not convinced. You want me to tell my guards that the Molerats survived the cave in, crawled up to the street and then spontaneously exploded?'

'It'll be fine,' Stephen repeated, hauling the last corpse up the rubble.

'Fine, just do it quickly then get out of here.'

Isaac reached into his pack and withdrew the bloody meat. He didn't want to throw away his hard work, but he saw no alternative. He began spreading it around with Stephen's help.

A few minutes later, a voice came from inside the tunnel. 'Mark! We have it!'

Isaac's heart skipped a beat.

'_Shit!_' Mark said frantically. '_Go! Now!_'

They immediately stopped what they were doing and sprinted up the rubble. They dodged into the building where the corpses were hidden; one of the only buildings in the street still standing. Isaac couldn't see what was happening as they were across the street, but he was careful to not make noise so as not to attract attention.

Stephen and Isaac sank into the wall, their Vault suits covered in dust and blood. The bodies lay in a messy heap beside them. They rested for a few minutes and regained their strength while listening to Mark and his guards block up the entrance.

'Come on,' said Stephen quietly, motioning towards the body pile. 'Let's grab their guns and whatever ammunition we can find, then we can leave.'

Isaac nodded, and together they crept along the wall silently. The sounds of banging sheets of metal and junk echoed across the empty street. The building they were in had no roof, and some of the walls had collapsed. Isaac couldn't even guess what it had been before the war; rubbish and bits of brick littered the floor and there was no furniture.

Isaac pulled off one of the men from the pile and began to check his pockets. 'I found some shotgun shells,' he whispered.

'Same,' Stephen replied. 'Red's automatic rifle was smashed in the cave in, so it looks like we'll both be getting new shotguns for Christmas.'

Isaac examined the corpse. The torso had been crushed, killing him instantly. The gas mask was still intact. Carefully, he removed it from the man's head. He held his breath, and quickly swapped masks.

Stephen frowned. 'I wish I had seen that first. The rest of them are broken. Finder's keepers, I suppose.'

Isaac liked it. Without the long filter hose of the Vault gas mask, his movement was less restricted. It was slightly heavier due to the filter being attached to the mouthpiece instead of the belt via a hose, but he would get used to it.

'This is definitely military equipment,' said Stephen. 'Where did they get all this? These gas masks, these guns...'

'Maybe they found a cache of pre-war military supplies?'

'Possibly. I'm still worried if there will be any more of them. They didn't know where the Vault is, so that's a good sign, I guess.'

'I'm more worried about those 2 guys they chopped up. I really hope we didn't know them.'

'That too.'

Isaac found some magazines of ammunition in Red's pockets, labeled '5.56mm'. He was about to push the corpse away, when he brushed something odd by its chest. He felt around, and he could definitely feel a small square lump. Hidden under the folds of fur was a small pocket, with a zip on it. It had been badly stitched on, and Isaac simply ripped it off. A small gray box fell out, about the size of Isaac's palm.

'What's that?' Stephen asked.

Isaac picked it up. There were hinges on the side, and he slipped his fingers in and pulled. The box unfolded a total of 3 times until it was flat. A screen, similar to his Pip-Boy, lay on the inside. Somehow, the screen folded.

'I'm not sure what it is,' said Isaac. 'It looks like a smaller gray Pip-Boy that... folds up.'

Stephen watched with interest as Isaac felt along the side. In faded black letters, he made out the words, "Scor", "ech" and "dius". He didn't pay it much attention. Probably a manufacturer brand. On the other side of the strange item, a power button was located. He flicked it up.

The screen came to life, a dark blue. _ScorpTech, Readius_, came up on the screen in stylized letters. He understood what the faded words meant, now.

'It's almost exactly like our Pip-Boys,' Isaac remarked, fascinated by the tiny Readius. 'It even controls the same.' This thing could be concealed anywhere. The large box-like Pip-Boy 2000 had to be stuffed into a backpack, or a large pocket.

'Amazing,' said Stephen, sarcastically. 'Just leave it there, it's no use to us. We have to go, and soon.' He glanced at the sky. 'It's getting dark.'

Isaac refused to leave his little treasure behind, and pocketed it.

He picked up the shotgun and loaded some shells into it. Stephen did the same. They crept out of the building on to the street, and made sure they were far enough away to pump the guns without being heard by the Ghouls.

In a way, Isaac regretted not getting to explore Deadtown. Maybe he would come back there someday, with Stephen. Now, though, they had to focus on getting back to the Vault before dark. When it was dark, it got even colder, Stephen had told him. It was when the irradiated snowstorms were most likely to pick up.

With that in mind, Isaac quickened his pace. It had been a very eventful day and he was looking forward to finally getting some sleep in his bed back in Appartment 759, in Vault 48.

He wasn't sure what to tell his mother about the day's events. She would most likely be worried sick, no matter what he told her. Yawning, he decided that would be a task for the morning. _Assuming we get back without running into something else that wants us dead_, he thought. He decided he liked the wasteland, no matter how dangerous it was. Stephen was right once again: the thrill of adventure was enough to keep him going.

When the winds of Flagstaff blew its icy breath unto him again, he welcomed its cold embrace. He imagined, or rather hoped, that he would have a long future with this cruel new friend.


	7. Chapter 6

The trek back to the Vault did not feel long. Isaac guessed it took them perhaps an hour, winding through the forgotten and desolated streets of Flagstaff. Not a sound was to be heard but the whistling of the wind. Lost in thought as he was, he felt as though the walk was just a few minutes. His breathing was becoming more and more strained; he knew his filter was about to become useless. _I'll have enough time to get back home_, he thought.

The sun was just a sliver in the sky when they slipped back into the cave that led to the Vault. The clouds still covered the sky like a thick blanket, but the sun managed to find a way through and turn them pink on the horizon.

Once more, Stephen flicked on his Pip-Boy light to illuminate the cave as they made their way home. They walked in silence, both deep in thought about the day's events. Isaac's fist closed around the Readius in his pocket, making sure his trophy was still there. He would have time to examine it back in the apartment.

At last, the light shone on the Vault door. It stood exactly where they had left it; a gigantic steel barrier that stopped the horrors of the outside from getting to the peace within. Home. "48" was emblazoned on it in large yellow letters. A small panel was embedded in the wall.

'I think you should put in the password,' said Stephen.

Isaac balked. The password was only given to trusted members of the Vault by the Overseer, and never to a teenager, no matter who they were.

'Are you sure?'

Stephen nodded. He recited a small list of seemingly random numbers and letters.

Hoisting his shotgun over his shoulder, Isaac tentatively pushed the correct buttons on the keypad. As he pulled the lever down, he could hear the emergency alarms from inside the Vault. Together, they jogged back into the cave as the Vault door wrenched itself open with all its signatures screeches and moans. Though the ground was vibrating violently, Isaac's heart skipped a beat when he saw the familiar metal and concrete walls of his home through the large hole left by the Vault door.

When they were inside and the door had been closed again, Isaac and Stephen finally removed their masks. Isaac greedily gulped in a lung full of Vault air. It tasted different to the filtered air outside; less crisp. It was home.

A glowing green sign that read '_Maintenance_' was affixed atop the hydraulic door they had exited through when they were about to leave the Vault that morning. Isaac pushed the button on the panel beside it and the door swung upwards again. They stepped through and made their way down the corridor, to a little room on the left. Lockers lined the walls, and a small arch led into another room with showers. The place was built specifically for people who made excursions to the outside.

'This is one of the best parts of coming home,' said Stephen. 'A nice, hot shower.'

Their Vault suits were still covered in blood and dust. They quickly emptied their pockets, put their equipment on the floor and changed out of them. Isaac made sure his Readius was safe. They deposited the suits in a little chute in the wall, and from there they would go down for cleaning and decontamination. There were fresh suits in the lockers. Isaac always wondered why they had made all the Vault suits the exact same. A little variety would have been nice.

He turned the metal nob in the wall. The warm water running down Isaac's face had never felt sweeter. He had spent the better part of the day covered in grime and freezing his ass off outside. He smiled, thinking of the story he would be able to tell his friends. He was a Ranger now. Inside, Isaac glowed.

Dressed and dry, they picked up their equipment and headed down the stairs at the end of the corridor. Another hydraulic door met them, but this time the word '_Atrium_' was read on the green sign above it. The door opened with a whoosh.

It was a large-ish place; a man could stand on another's shoulders and still only brush the ceiling with his fingers. More hydraulic doors lined the walls, and fake plants and sofas were spread around to make it look more homely. The Atrium was a hub in Vault 48. The doors led off in all directions: venues, apartments, workplaces... anywhere. The Atrium sat in the middle of the Vault, and functioned as a large hallway that had a door to everywhere in the huge underground bunker.

Although there was no night and day as such in the Vault, time was still observed. People went about their business during the day hours and relaxed or went home during the night hours. It was late evening, and the Atrium was deserted save for a few teenagers lounging around on the sofas. Isaac didn't know them or even cared about them; he was concerned with getting home. Fatigue clung to him like sweat. He wanted nothing more than to relax into the comfort of his bed.

Isaac knew which door they were going to. 4 doors down from Maintenance. The corridor beyond led to a series of apartments, and their home. Stephen was about to open the door when it opened up of its own accord, and an ageing man in his fifties with short, graying hair walked through.

'Mr. Hayes,' said the man to Stephen, bobbing his head in greeting. 'Isaac.'

'Hello, Mr. Hubert,' said Stephen.

'How was your expedition? Did you run into some trouble?' he asked, eyeing the cut on Stephen's head.

Isaac and Stephen looked at each other. Isaac opened his mouth to speak, but Stephen cut him off quickly.

'No, no. Nothing too serious. I simply knocked my head on a piece of falling debris. You're safe from nothing out there, it seems.'

Mr. Hubert chuckled. 'It'll heal quickly enough. Those are some mighty fine weapons you've got there, too.'

'Found them in a burned out army truck,' Isaac lied. 'Pretty good for my first time, right?'

The man smiled. 'Your first time and you're already bringing back military equipment? Keep that up and you'll be rich! Now if you'll excuse me, I must be going. Bingo is on, and I don't want to miss it.'

Stephen and Isaac shook hands with him, and he hobbled off. They slipped in through the hydraulic door before it had a chance to close and made their way down the concrete corridor to Apartment 759.

'Nobody is to know about what happened, alright?' said Stephen in a hushed voice. 'Don't tell anyone. Not even your friends. I'm debating whether or not to even tell Mia. After living in isolation for so long, the notion that there are other people out there would send the Vault into chaos. Just stick with the story we just told Hubert.'

'Well, there goes my plan of impressing everyone with tales of our heroism.'

'_Our _heroism?If I recall correctly, it was I who led Red and his cronies to Deadtown,' he joked. 'Actually, that reminds me. Don't say anything to anyone about Deadtown, either. I want to keep the promise I made to Mark. And if anyone asks why we didn't bring back any cool pre-war tech, just say we had a run of bad luck. We did _find _these shotguns, though.' He eyed Isaac's new gas mask. 'That too.'

'Alright, Dad... I won't say anything to anybody about anything. But...' He put his hand in his pocket and withdrew the Readius. 'I brought this.'

Stephen sighed. 'You can keep that if you want but don't expect anyone here to buy it from you. It looks like a knock-off of a Pip-Boy. Probably made by some company before the war to cash in on Vault-Tek's success.'

Isaac tried to protest that it wasn't a knock-off at all, but Stephen wasn't listening. They had arrived at the apartment. '_759_' glowed above the hydraulic door.

'Remember what I said,' said Stephen, hitting the panel. The door opened, and they stepped in.

Immediately Isaac felt a rush of happiness. He was home. The familiar walls, though they looked the same as anywhere else in the Vault, made him feel at peace. The apartments were all designed the same way: one room with a kitchen and living area, 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. It was all lit by bright electric lights on the ceiling.

Throwing his equipment into his bedroom, Isaac went and sank into the sofa. Stephen put his own stuff in the main bedroom, where he and Mia slept, then proceeded to make a cup of tea. Plants and animals were kept on the lower levels of the Vault in controlled conditions, to ensure the Vault dwellers had an ample supply of that which they had before the war. Though Isaac or Stephen had never known what it had been like back then, they were grateful for it.

'Would you like one?' Stephen asked, shaking a tea bag.

Isaac nodded, then noticed a slip of paper on the coffee table. He opened it and it read, '_Gone for a get-together, be back later – Mom_'. He showed it to Stephen. After a few minutes, the smell of tea began to permeate the air. Stephen handed Isaac a steaming mug and sat down beside him.

'There are other people out there,' Isaac said matter of factly.

Sipping from his mug, Stephen said darkly, 'It changes everything, I know.'

'Where have they been all this time? Where do they live? How many of them are there?'

'I know just as much as you do.'

'We narrowly got away today, Dad. If we meet more of them... I dunno.'

Stephen nodded thoughtfully. 'I'm going to get a few veteran Rangers together and have a talk. I supposed the damned Overseer will want to be there, too. Not that there is much that we can do, but... Don't worry about it. We'll sort something out.'

They finished the tea in silence, then got up and had dinner. An unidentifiable meat and vegetables. The processed foods of the Vault didn't offer much in the way of variety.

Isaac checked the clock on the wall. 10:23 PM. 'I'm turning in. Tired.'

'Good idea,' said Stephen, but Isaac was already gone.

He flicked on the bedside Nuke-Cola lamp and changed out of his Vault suit into his undergarments. Setting the Readius down carefully on his bedside table, he climbed into bed. He wanted nothing more than to drift off to sleep, but he forced himself to keep his eyes open. Now was the time where he was truly alone, and he could explore the Readius without being disturbed.

He unfolded it and hit the power switch. The logo flashed on the screen, and he was brought to the main menu. Perhaps Stephen had been right, and it was a cheap Pip-Boy rip-off. It controlled almost exactly the same, similar menus and everything. He hit the _Data _button. There were 4 further buttons, _Notes_,_ Radio_, _Local _and _World_.

_Notes _was empty. Clearly Red didn't like taking notes. Maybe he couldn't read, or write. Isaac was pleasantly surprised by the _Radio _button; the Pip-Boy 2000s of Vault 48 didn't have that feature. He tuned into the Vault's music station, but quickly turned it off as it was quite loud.

_Local _was a map of Flagstaff. It was odd in that parts of it weren't filled in. Isaac realized that the Readius' map updated as you travelled. The Pip-Boy's maps were already filled in, but they were outdated and old. Pre-war Flagstaff was a very different place to post-war Flagstaff. _Handy_, he thought. He frowned, looking at how much ground Red had covered. He had explored most of the city, except for a small circle in the south-west area. _The hypocenter_.

Lastly, he hit _World_. The Readius froze for a second as it loaded the information, and then displayed a satellite image of Arizona in black and white. It was almost exactly the same as his Pip-Boy's, except the Pip-Boy's was coloured green.

He zoomed in a little, and his stomach churned. In the area surrounding Flagstaff were several little markers. Each had a different name; some were coloured red and some were coloured green. Most were black. The one that struck him the most was a marker directly south-west of Flagstaff. It read, '_Home_'.

Isaac didn't know what to think. He had found where Red had come from. Could all these markers be little pockets of civilization? Other Vaults? No. The world was dead. There couldn't possibly be that many people.

He explored a bit further, and found that the major cities of Arizona had been circled and greyed out. Flagstaff, Phoenix, Tucson, all of them. What did that mean?

His theory was confirmed by a black marker east of Phoenix. '_New Phoenix_', it read. Unless this was all a part of some weird fantasy Red had had, this was real. There were other settlements out there. But how? The air was poisonous. All these places would need several tons worth of filters to be sustainable.

Isaac's heart was beating faster than it had all day. He had just discovered an entire new world. He shook his head disbelievingly. This wasn't even possible. And yet, there it was.

_Am I dreaming?_ he thought. This was mind-boggling. He had to tell Stephen.


	8. -end-

_I'm afraid I have decided to discontinue this story. _

_I haven't updated in weeks and said nothing to indicate why, and for that I am sorry._

_I had been locked in a battle concerning my writing skills and my willingness to continue. It's taken me a while, but I'm over it now. _

_This was the first story I ever published on the Internet and it lead me to really question if I was any good or not. I've decided that I'll have to keep writing to improve my skills._

_You might think this would be a logical conclusion, but at the time I didn't think about it and was considering giving up for good._

_I don't want to make this too long as the story wasn't that long either, so I'll finish by saying that I'm sorry for the lack of updates and the fact I'm discontinuing Fallout: 48._

_I might return to it someday, but for now consider it (in)complete._

_-**Mr. Moonshine**_


End file.
